{"id":247,"date":"2019-09-30T02:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T02:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/?page_id=247"},"modified":"2019-09-30T02:26:11","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T02:26:11","slug":"gandhi-the-non-saint","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/gandhi-the-non-saint\/","title":{"rendered":"Gandhi the non-saint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/SB10001424052748703529004576160371482469358\">Andrew Roberts, Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2011<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Lelyveld has written a generally admiring book about Mohandas Gandhi, the man credited with leading India to independence from Britain in 1947. Yet &#8220;Great Soul&#8221; also obligingly gives readers more than enough information to discern that he was a sexual weirdo, a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist\u2014one who was often downright cruel to those around him. Gandhi was therefore the archetypal 20th-century progressive intellectual, professing his love for mankind as a concept while actually despising people as individuals. &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Although Gandhi&#8217;s nonviolence made him an icon to the American civil-rights movement, Mr. Lelyveld shows how implacably racist he was toward the blacks of South Africa. &#8230; Gandhi complained during one of his campaigns for the rights of Indians settled there. &#8220;We could understand not being classed with whites, but to be placed on the same level as the Natives seemed too much to put up with. Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilized\u2014the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals.&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Of white Afrikaaners and Indians, he wrote: &#8220;We believe as much in the purity of races as we think they do.&#8221; &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>[W]hen he was in his 70s and close to leading India to independence, he encouraged his 17-year-old great-niece, Manu, to be naked during her &#8220;nightly cuddles&#8221; with him. After sacking several long-standing and loyal members of his 100-strong personal entourage who might disapprove of this part of his spiritual quest, Gandhi began sleeping naked with Manu and other young women. He told a woman on one occasion: &#8220;Despite my best efforts, the organ remained aroused. It was an altogether strange and shameful experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yet he could also be vicious to Manu, whom he on one occasion forced to walk through a thick jungle where sexual assaults had occurred in order for her to retrieve a pumice stone that he liked to use on his feet. When she returned in tears, Gandhi &#8220;cackled&#8221; with laughter at her and said: &#8220;If some ruffian had carried you off and you had met your death courageously, my heart would have danced with joy.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andrew Roberts, Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2011: Joseph Lelyveld has written a generally admiring book about Mohandas Gandhi, the man credited with leading India to independence from Britain in 1947. Yet &#8220;Great Soul&#8221; also obligingly gives readers more than enough information to discern that he was a sexual weirdo, a political incompetent and a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-247","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":248,"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/247\/revisions\/248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faculty.som.yale.edu\/jameschoi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}